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Compare Prices on Azura Southern Caribbean Cruises

Wanted to enjoy but...............

Sail Date:
November 2011

Destination:
Southern Caribbean

Embarkation:
Other

Oh dear, where to begin. My husband and I were so looking forward to a relaxing 14 days in the Caribbean on the flag-ship Azura but what we got was a cheap holiday camp experience at sea.
It started by having to pay Ã£50 just to get seats together on the plane!!!!.
We arrived in Barbados in rain but no problem, it was still a fab 30+ degrees.
Ship is massive and very difficult to get around and with the amount of passengers on board can feel very closed in.
The cabin was nice and kept very clean by Rowena.We were right at the front of the ship and it tended to get very noisy when arriving at ports etc.
The air conditioning is constant and tends to cause a lot of passengers to get chest problems and dry coughs etc. Also the corridors are so staggeringly long.
Best view in the house is also best kept secret. End of deck 8 at the front (of course) passenger access to the bow.
Room service awful, food was dreadful and we are still trying to work More
out the flavour of soup that we had. Buffets.....don't get me started. Repetitive and boring. Un-attractive and no imagination involved whatsoever. The amount of passengers NOT washing hands on entering buffet was disgusting. Cattle market mentality pushing and shoving. Lack of tables, usually occupied with people who had finished eating but wanted to admire the view. Lack of cutlery and cups. Free juice only available at breakfast.Cooked breakfast swimming in fat.
We dined in Oriental. Food of school diner quality, in fact kids probably get batter. Tried 3 times. Received a comment card which we filled in truthfully. Following day we were approached and improvements were attempted. Tried to book Sindu and 17 at the end of first week but told no tables left for the rest of the cruise. Tried to book Verona and told the same.
Shore trips....don't book with P&O they are very over priced. There are plenty of trips available on the key side. Ship photographers....bloody nuisance. In your face even when eating.
Passengers....miserable po-faced idiots that have no manners and treat staff like slaves, who by the way were extremely helpful and happy. Sunbed re-servers....pack it in. Its petty and ruins holidays. There are plenty to go around. Same with lift stampedes....let people out before you barge in.
Entertainment....should be prosecuted under the trades description act. Totally awful. Shore-leave parties, when you have done 1, you have done them all. Repetitive again. No free soft drinks, unlike Royal Caribbean whom P&O really need to take a close look at.
Islands visited. Aruba, Antigua and Grand Turks are stunning. Jamaica, st Martin Barbados and Bonaire horrid. St Lucia felt really un-safe and quite scary. Rum bar karaoke at the duty-free saved it.
In summing up......No would never travel with this company again. Poor value for money. Still cannot understand why the ship was filled with Primark loyalty customers from Butlins.
Ship is too big for staff to cope with. Passengers rude and bored. Sorry but truth hurts. Less